Super Bowl Ads Focus on Problems with Tech, Robots Replacing Humans

Several of this year’s Super Bowl commercials focus on the problems with technology, including Michelob’s ULTRA commercial, which features robots beating humans at a number of physical activities.

Michelob ULTRA

Beer company Michelob’s Super Bowl commercial for Michelob ULTRA features robots beating humans at a number of physical activities, including running, golf, boxing, and cycling.

The commercial ends with a robot looking longingly into a bar as it is unable to drink beer.

The caption, “It’s only worth it, if you can enjoy it,” appears on-screen.

Pringles

Pringles’ commercial features two men eating Pringles, with one of them asking, “How many Pringles flavor stack combinations are there?”

A home assistant replies, “318,000,” before adding, “Sadly, I’ll never know the joy of tasting any for I have no hands to stack with, no mouth to taste with, no soul to feel with. I am at the mercy of a cruel and uncaring…”

One of the men then interrupts, commanding the assistant to play Lipps Inc.’s “Funky Town.”

Amazon Alexa

Amazon’s 2019 Alexa home assistant commercial focuses on the problems with Alexa being integrated into a number of unorthodox appliances, including a toothbrush, a dog collar, a hot tub, and a space station, with a cameo by actor Harrison Ford.

Other commercials also had a technological focus, including Budweiser, which featured a horse-and-carriage riding through fields of wind turbines to “promote the idea that Budweiser is brewed with energy from wind power,” according to Axios, and Sketchers, which featured an automated vacuum cleaner, a hovering table, and a remote-controlled dog ball shooter.